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Dr TK Mopeli lecture Group photo
Members of the Mopeli Royal Household with University of Free State Management.

The life and legacy of Dr TK Mopeli were remembered and celebrated during the TK Mopeli Memorial Lecture held on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus on 28 September.

As the campus celebrated 20 years as one of the delivery sites of the UFS, the memorial lecture was a fitting tribute to one of the leading champions who played a pivotal role in the founding of the Qwaqwa Campus. Dr Mopeli (1954-2014) is the former Chief Minister of the South African Bantustan of Qwaqwa. The Qwaqwa Campus was established in 1982 as a satellite of the historically black University of the North (UNIN), now the University of Limpopo. In 2003, the UFS underwent integration, which saw the Qwaqwa Campus merging with the Bloemfontein Campus to form a single, comprehensive university.

He also played an integral role in building more than 600 schools in Qwaqwa and Botshabelo in the Free State.

Delivering the keynote address, Dr Elias Malete, Senior Lecturer and Academic Head of the Department of African Languages in the Faculty of The Humanities at the University of the Free State, said Dr Mopeli contributed immensely to the education of black people.

“According to the work of other scholars such as Mbeki, the purpose of education is to create consciousness by revealing the truth through facts, to enable an appreciation of beauty, and to give people the capacity to create what is good for themselves, the world, and humanity. Dr TK Mopeli was a leader who invested in his people,” he said.

Members of the Mopeli Royal Household formed part of the lecture, as Dr Malete described Dr Mopeli as a humble leader, passionate about the advancement of his people and the preservation of the Basotho nation.

“Effective leadership must have the capacity to transform individuals, communities, and societies. When Dr TK Mopeli took over as a leader, black people were landless. Their physical spaces had been reduced to bantustans, and businesses in Qwaqwa were owned by white people. His leadership oversaw the development of the agriculture sector, industries, and tourism. Things began to get better.”

Dr Malete thanked the UFS for commemorating Dr Mopeli’s history as part of the celebrations. “He wasn’t a boastful man, but we need to sing his praises. Let us pay homage to this legend and unsung hero of the Basotho nation whose tireless efforts and monumental contributions will remain valuable to his people.”

News Archive

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative
2006-05-10

At the conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue were from the left Dr Aldo Stroebel (senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate), Dr Edith Vries (acting Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Development Trust) and Prof Frans Swanepoel (Director: UFS Research Development Directorate).

UFS in forefront with ASGI-SA initiative

Two staff members of the University of the Free State (UFS) have been appointed as members of the advisory board of the national programme for the creation of small enterprises and jobs in the second economy.  This programme forms part of government’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGI-SA).

Prof Frans Swanepoel, Director of the UFS Research Development Directorate and Dr Aldo Stroebel, senior researcher at the UFS Research Development Directorate, are working with a team of experts from the UFS on a draft implementation strategy for the national programme.  Both Prof Swanepoel and Dr Stroebel are also associated to the UFS Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.
 
“The strategy is being developed in collaboration with institutions like the Independent Development Trust, the Department of Agriculture, the National Development Agency and the Department of Trade and Industry,” says Prof  Swanepoel.  

The other team members of the UFS are Prof Basie Wessels, Director of the  Mangaung-University Community Partnership Programme (MUCPP) and Mr  Benedict Mokoena, project manager at the MUCPP.

Dr Stroebel was also member of the organising committee of a conceptualisation colloquium and stakeholder dialogue that was recently presented in Johannesburg.  The conference was attended by more than 400 delegates from government departments, higher-education institutions and civil society, including Dr Kobus Laubscher, member of the UFS Council.

The conference was facilitated by Ms Vuyo Mahlati, previously from the WK Kellogg Foundation’s Africa programme and opened by Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.   

“The colloquium formed the basis of an induction workshop during which a group of 150 individuals (50 teams of three) from all nine provinces, identified to initiate the implementation of the national programme, was trained and orientated towards an induction manual in collaboration with Hand-in-Hand, an Indian counterpart,” says Prof Swanepoel.

Dr Stroebel and Mr Benedict Mokoena formed part of the team to conceptualise and finalise this training manual.  The induction training includes a case study of a successful community self-help partnership model, namely the MUCPP at the UFS. Prof Wessels and Mr Mokoena are both playing a leading role in the further development of subsequent training initiatives throughout South Africa, in partnership with the relevant provincial departments.

“The involvement of the UFS in the programme is a compliment to us.  It reflects the value government sees in the use of academics and experts in the management of the ASGI-SA initiative.  It is also an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa and in the transformation and change that is taking place in our country,” says Prof Swanepoel.  

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
10 May 2006

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